offices yesterday. they say intel is calling around trying lower expectations. i'd sell intel. i think you buy at $16 to $18. have a great weekend. see you all next week. "power" begins right now. >> announcer: halftime is over. the second half of the trading day gets under way right now. and "power lunch" is all over it. >> welcome, everybody. the charismatic leader of the country's biggest bank says housing has finally, finally begun to turn a corner. is jamie dimon right and what are some of the 140 companies that are poised to cash in? the country speeding towards a fiscal cliff. millions without jobs and this is what a political debate in california turns in to. jaw to jaw, nose to nose, a sheriff's deputy brought in. the search for real leadership. can it be found in perhaps some unexpected places? this time it will be different.

best buy vowing an all-out war against cyber showrooming promising to match the low prices you find online. but will it work? is it too late? hard at work at the new york stock exchange is my partner, sue herera. down at the big show room! >> you got it, ty. indeed. right now down here after trading higher for a good part of the morning really, stocks have moved slightly into the red. energy in the banks not having a particularly good day. even though one of those banks had something really good to say about housing, as you mentioned. jpmorgan's ceo jamie dimon says it has turned a corner. he made those remarks as part of that company's earnings roll out earlier this morning. before we look at which companies could get a boost from that in a turnaround, let's begin with kayla tausche. what did mr. dimon say and what's he citing as evidence that we've turned the corner? >> it was a bold call, a prepared quote by dimon in jpmorgan's earnings press release saying it has turned a

corner but only marked by modest improvement in credit trends but despite that, default related expenses will stick around a while longer. jpmorg jpmorgan, the problem with calling the rebound -- 75% of mortgage activity is refinancing which means that consumers are taking advantage of lower rates but not pumping much new money into this system. >> kayla, stand by. meanwhile let's bring in diana olick who covers real estate for us. if dimon is right, which companies could get a bast from the recovery? >> well, look. robert schiller was on earlier this morning with rick santelli. he said he wasn't convinced recovery is really here and that there's no urgency to buy homes. but then roger altman said a housing boom is coming.

i'm leaning toward the laert based on supplies and demographics but with a big caveat here -- that boom is not coming any time soon. still, if you are playing the stocks, better to get in before the boom. right? we know that's been the case with home builders but more than 140 companies across about 30 sectors are already directly benefiting from the turnaround in housing. that according to john burns real estate consulting. take a look at year over year stock price appreciation for companies that make wall board. that's u.s. gypsum and eagle materials. also flooring company stocks up 124%. that's your lumber liquidators and armstrong world industries. equipment rentals are up 76%. then there is the unexpected plays like those that are big

into land which are up 56%. that's the st. joe company, the howard hughes corp., for rester group. or perhaps in the mortgage category. ellie mae is already up 405% going public last year. opportunities are vast. that is of course if you believe in this coming housing boom and if you want more stocks, details, they're all up on the charts on the blog. >> i can't decide whether i like ellie mae better than fancy back splashes. i love them both. beverly hillbillies. dimon says housing has turned a corner. we want to ask you what you think. our yahoo! finance poll -- do you agree the boom is back? do you say not quite? it's improving where i live but not there yet? or third -- forget it, it's still a mess. we'll give you the results later on "power lunch."

let's get back to the bank earnings. the bottom line for some of these companies. housing is just one headline from today's report from jpmorgan and wells fargo. jpmorgan posting record profits. that stock is down 1.5%. wells fargo narrowly beating on the bottom line but it missed on revenues. the street's punishing that stock, it is down almost 3.25% on the trading session so far. let's get back to kayla tausche right now. you've been crunching numbers. what sticks out to you? what's the most prominent headline? >> it's pretty clear from looking at those stocks that investors aren't blown away by either company's earnings or near term guidance. jpmorgan was up as much as 1.5% in the premarket and it is obviously traded down as investors have digested this. wells fargo, there's more surprise to the downside. jpmorgan though, earnings were a little bit of a mixed bag. mortgages as we mentioned were a bright spot. the activity appeared more fueled by low rates than a fundamental change in the housing market. there's also a fear of what lay ahead for jpmorgan.

investment banking earnings declined sharply from last quarter amid lower volumes. dimon said fiscal cliff worries could cause a further stall there in the fourth quarter. for wells the revenue miss was accompanied by a 25 basis point drop in margins, much larger than the market had expected. and not much near-term relief in sight. organic loan growth at wells is slowing hurting the bank even more. while executives tried to reassure the market, ceo john stump says he's focused on returning capital to investors and the ceo says he's still open to accusations. not much in today's release to get excited about. the biggest problem for both of these banks they thought the headwinds plaguing them in qe3 were at least around for the next few quarters. we are watching apple and amazon today. reports that apple is expected to unveil its highly anticipated miniipad at an october 23rd event. meanwhile, amazon's ceo says he's actually not making any money when he sells a kindle device.

our tech reporter jon fortt in silicon valley with two very different business models for the tablets. jon? >> tyler, this october 23rd date for apple is interesting for a couple reasons. one, it is two days before apple earnings which will make it interesting for the stock. apple will have to include ipad mini in its fiscal q1 guidance possibly before pre-orders of the device have even started. gross margin guidance will be important with two high-volume laurnl launches under way. i'm told the apple mini will start shipping in november, couple weeks amazon launches the new, improved kindle fire. let's talk business models. of the kindle fire hd unveil, they're not making money on hardware. they make it when people use the device. they said apple's model of getting big margins on hardware puts them at odds with the consumer because they always try to pull you back to upgrade.

here's the catch -- amazon also puts ads on its envy level devices because they say they're not a device, they're a service. that's not something you can imagine apple doing. you can kind of ding either company either way. >> he's basically saying we make money by selling you things, not by selling you the device. >> he is. and apple would say, we make money by selling you the absolute best device we can make so you fall in love with it. he's wanting you to fall in love with the service. it's interesting because the multiple amazon is getting is based on the making a profit eventually. you wonder if wall street just doesn't believe amazon. >> how's microsoft planning to make money in this space? >> they're planning to make money on the software and on the device. now that we've seen microsoft coming out with surface and steve balmer saying in his note earlier this week you can expect more hardware plays when it is targeted, when it is appropriate. now to an alarming rise in hacking. a major concern for mobile

devicemakers like apple and amazon. but defense secretary leon pa n netta is calling it a national security threat. eamon javers is in washington with the latest. >> reporter: it was a landmark speech by defense secretary leon panetta last night and it was in front of a business audience in new york that he addressed the crowd and went further than he's gone before in talking about the potential for cyber war. secretary panetta saying that the united states has already seen specific instances where foreign attackers have gotten in to u.s. infrastructure software. he said that is part of the problem here. take a listen. >> we also know that they are seeking to create advance tools to attack these systems and cause panic and destruction and even the loss of life. >> reporter: panetta also said that he wants to partner with

american business here. he says the key is for the pentagon and business to work closely together. but business not necessarily jumping on-board with this automatically. they fought back against what they call new regulations. i talked to some folks over at the chamber of commerce. here's what they had to say. they said the optimal way forward will not be found in layering additional regulations on the business community. we would like to see a program that will work. so, sue and tyler, clearly not necessarily automatic agreement on this case of cyber war. back to you. >> eamon javers from the pentagon, thank you. now to mary t for a market flash. >> mitt romney may like coal stocks but they aren't being loved today by clsa which has cut their ratings to two on alpha natural resources, as well as consol energy. estimates for 2013 and '14 have been cut citing higher costs at its australian mines. rallying lately but taking a turn for the worse.

>> is this an example of the political leadership vacuum that erskine bowles and alan simpson were talking to us about on cnbc yesterday? bitter california congressional race. two guys getting into each other's faces. it turns physical. not fiscal. best buy taking on the online giants. whether its plan will work and how it will affect your holiday shopping season. as we head to the break, a look at friday movers here on "power lunch." we'll be right back in a couple of minutes. [ male announcer ] the 2013 smart comes with 8 airbags, a crash management system and the world's only tridion safety cell which can withstand over three and a half tons. small in size. big on safety. which can withstand over three and a half tons. thank you, mr. speaker, uh, members of congress. in celebration of over 75 years of our government employees insurance company,

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welcome back to "power lunch." i'm mary thompson with a cnbc market flash. shares of haines celestial down. street account crediting the decline to reports circulating from nielsen that says while sales were up for hains in the most recent period they decelerated in the prior period so the stock is under pressure. again we'll try to confirm that but that's what street account is reporting light yao. >> thank you. to the bond market. they've had a wild week there. auctions, whipsaws on data. all sorts of things. rick santelli's here to handicap the afternoon action for us. >> they definitely have had a wild week. 2 out of 3 auctions were great. the last one took the charm off

the first two. let's look at two-week charts. right around the unemployment issues that we all went through not that long ago, interest rates definitely seemed to be creeping up. but over two weeks we're basically close to unchanged. we're down ten basis points this week. if you look at a 10-year bund, correlations are still tight but patterns are diverging a bit. pay close attention to that. if you look at a dollar index, shorter charts looks like we've had volatility but we haven't. it's been in a tight range. if you open the chart up to june, we're still below 80 for weeks now. let's take a look at this. as the country screams toward the fiscal cliff here's what happened at a congressional debate in california yesterday. representative brad sherman made a lunge for rival howard berman. berman and sherman squirming. a sheriff's deputy had to come in to break up the physical confrontation. these two guys are democrats!

from the same party. there comes the sheriff to break it up. they're both in each other's face. where is the genuine leadership going to come from. we may actually have seen some of it from what some may consider unlikely source. one jamie dimon, two lloyd blankfein. two big bankers on our air trying to spark a national dialogue on fiscal issues. zach covers the white house economic policy for "the washington post," and neil, editor in chief "the american banker." do you find it all unusual that two gentlemen who have been alternately sort of lionized and pilloried in the public imagination are coming forward now and urging politicians to bring us back from the fiscal cliff? >> i don't think it is surprising. obviously they would rather talk about the problems in washington th and talk about things like whales as in bear stearns and

muppets. these are the sort of problems that they've obviously been in the spotlight for. if they can portray themselves as more elder statesman as people who can help steer our economy to be voices of reason i think it obviously helps them and helps the barpging industry more broadly. >> these are two public spirited individuals. coming out and obviously beseeching congress and the white house to veer away from this collision course that we seem to be on. is anybody in washington listening to the common sense that both of those gentlemen are speaking? >> i'm not sure either the white house or any lawmakers are going to use as their big point that they like an idea because the head of jpmorgan or goldman sachs likes it. that said, both lloyd blankfein and jamie dimon have a lot of power and a lot of money, and they're now willing to spend it on trying to avoid this fiscal cliff. this is a change from last year because in that big battle over the debt limit last year,

bankers and other top ceos really had an energy towards getting involved in washington. but this time they seem to really see the risk is there and want to get involved. >> zach, might i also suggest that it is simply common sense? if you take a look at the bank industry, you could argue, could you not, that they have seen the dysfunction of government firsthand. i mean we're still working on writing dodd-frank and it's been several years since the financial crisis so they've seen some of the gridlock and disarray from both sides of the aisle certainly, and they've seen it from the inside. it seems to me that it's kind of common sense that having seen that, they're trying to take on a leadership role. >> i think that's right. as one top ceo told me, particularly about jamie dimon, but others as well, what is the basic role that a ceo does? he balances -- he or she balances the budget. and i think it just offends ceos, both on wall street and on main street, that people in washington can't get anywhere close to balancing the budget.

>> neil though, does -- will washington pay attention to these ceos if it's just the wall street ceos? do we need to broaden this out? do the captains of industry from other areas of the country need to come together because if it's just the blankfeins and the dimons, as influential as they are -- not trying to downplay that, however, they still get tarred and feathers in the public because of the financial crisis. >> this does have to be part after bratter dialogue and broader pressure from the business community. but at the same time i think what you're seeing is a lot of frustration among business leaders. the fact that nobody in washington -- at least nobody who's running for office right now -- really wants to tell the truth, wants to say we have some very hard choices, we're going to have to cut more than just big bird's budget to get numbers to add up. what they're saying is, okay, guys, the election is going to be over real soon and it is time for both sides to say we're not going to be as pulverized as we've been lately and to

actually solve these problems because at some point greece is in our future if we don't. >> zach, one of the things that mr. blankfein and also mr. dimon said was -- look at the opportunity that is out there if we do actually solve the fiscal problems that are -- that lie right in front of us. think of the stimulative effect that a solution would bring. is anybody in washington likely to look at it from that point of view rather than from the point of view of the calamity that would ensue if we don't solve it? >> i think most people in washington realize that a combination of long-term measures to bring entitlements, spending and taxes into a better place is the right solution. and would create enormous confidence in the xhi. now i don't think people think it is an immediate risk. of course it is an end-of-year risk but these cuts and tax increases all have to happen immediately, but i think that a widespread agreement that a simpler, more straightforward budgeting process for the country would have enormous benefits over the next decade. >> thank you both very much.

neil, we'll circle back to you later in the hour. the street making an important call on walmart today but is it the right call? we're going to analyze the analysts coming up. plus, finally some good news for europe. the european union getting the nobel peace prize. yes, you heard it correctly. but who should get the money? the greeks? germany? ms. merkel? we know it wasn't awarded for economics. here's a look at the biggest gainers on the nyse with the market down just slightly. we have the ipo of the day. workday which is traded right behind me here at nyse, up 73% at $48.66. you. we know you. we know you have to rise early... and work late, with not enough sleep in between. how you sometimes need to get over to that exit,

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i'm here with matt chezlock. you've been so patient, breaking news has blown out your segment every day. every core partners is saying about the stock at this particular time -- the basis for the upgrade is proprietary work related to the rollout of sales for its enhancement productivity tools -- in other words they put new products out. sales navigator which we see driving material long-term revenue to the upside. how do you feel about this stock? year to date it is up 34%. >> it's acted great. i think there's one thing to look at. came from $55. the high is $125. we backed off a little bit. i would use this time to buy into the stock. i like their idea with $600 million in revenue over the next five years. it's probably a good time to buy. if the fiscal cliff comes due and 2 million more people are looking for jobs, what better site than linkedin.

citi driving seagate technology and western digital, both to a sell. firm saying we see meaningful downside to the sector near term and overwhelming deterioration of not only pcs bu krchlpcs but software as well. >> we had a 50% retracement. time to make a call. they're piling on. everyone else has cut the sector. intel was cut. qualcomm was cut. texas instruments was cut. not a surprise. probably a good time to back off and see what the sector likes going forward. there's really no new catalyst. >> you agree with the call. jeffries is upgrading walmart today to buy from hold. they're raising their price target to $88 per share. firm says they are upgrading as walmart gains a firmer footing in propelling the turnaround

story beyond easy sales comparisons. that's what a lot of people have been looking for from walmart. let's take a look at how the stock has performed year to date. it is up 37%. even in a down market today it is up 1.25%. >> the analyst got some sway here but the stock is up from $58 to $75. i'm a little more cautious. they're talking about small-store sales and compse. i'd be looking to back off. but it is a great undercovered story. stock looks good here though. >> matt, thanks for your patience this week. it's been good to have you with us. we appreciate it. don't miss our interview with the man who made that call on walmart today. dan binder of jeffries. he'll be with us to talk about walmart and how the big box stores are fighting back. ty, you're keeping an eye on another big box store. that's best buy. >> best buy shares have been moving today according to the

"wall street journal." the shares down a dime. retailers planning to match the prices of internet competitors like amazon during the holiday season but will it work? is it too little too bait? we'll debate it next. ♪

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welcome back to "power lunch." i'm sharon epperson at the nymex. gold retreating into the close here at the lows of the session below $1,760 an ounce. just a week ago we were just shy of the $1,800 mark so it's dropped about $20 in that period of time. traders say the fact we'll see quantitative easing indefinitely -- at least for now it appears -- that's something that's supporting the market but not enough to provide the catalyst to go above that $1,800 level. we are also waiting to see data coming out of china next week. that could be key for gold and industrial metals which are weaker today and the weakest part of the complex here at the nymex is actually gasoline futures down sharply as the cash markets in new york and california have eased considerably. it should mean a little bit of relief at the gas pump coming up. i'm here with bob pisani

down on the floor. we're at the workday post. that was the ipo that opened this morning, biggest tech ipo since facebook and they pulled it off nicely down here opening up this stock. congratulations, guys, by the way. you were the focus of attention earlier this morning. the stock is up, what? 73%? >> just to reiterate, $21 to $24 was the price talk. they raised it $24 to $26. they priced it at $28 and they opened $48.05 and it is trading up above the open as well. dave dufffield was here, they sold peoplesoft to oracle about seven years ago. then immediately created a sort of competitor at this point. successful company. >> that's a very successful ipo, successful launch. it's trading well today. what about the rest of the market? not as much support in the rest of the market. >> it is a littlivier. i'm a little worried about energy because we're breaking down right now. if you look at the s&p energy sector, we wrobroke below the

50-day moving average. refiners are weak. banks are weak. today we saw wells fargo -- it is great having low interest rates an low mortgages. i refinanced mine but it is tougher on bank profits. that's kind of showing up -- >> is a 3% drop too much for wells fargo -- >> here's the problem. everyone's playing -- they've played this as a recovery on the housing market all year so these banks are expensive now. prices have unrun up. all local banks are at new highs. that's a problem. >> bob, thank you. to the nasdaq now and seema mody. >> we continue to watch the moves on in google and apple today. com score reporting google's share of the search market continues to rise though the stock down slightly. apple is actually trading higher. yesterday we spoke about how it was getting close to correction territory off roughly 10% from its all-time intraday high that it hit back in september. other tech movers weighing on the index. look at some of the hard disk

drive players that you were talking about before. one of the sectors getting hit by that slowdown in the pc business. city today making that huge rating cut. and another player i want to take a look at, an indian adr, infosys dropping as investors are once again disappointed in its earnings and growth outlook. this is a company that those who invest in india and in outsourcing watch very closely as it is considered an i.t. bellwether. big box stores are getting aggressive this holiday season with best buy apparently announcing plans to match online prices. something they hadn't done before. they used to match brick and mortar stores to brick and mortar stores but not the clicks. walmart saying this week it is going to test same-day delivery service in some markets but will any of it beat back the trend of internet shopping joining me now, dan binder, the analyst who just upgraded walmart from a hold to a buy. cnbc contributor stacy which id

is also with us. what caused you to say the stock is now a buy as opposed to just a hold. >> it's reflected some of the turnaround the company's had thus far. i think what we saw at this year's analyst meeting was that the company has a lot of irons in the fire to really keep this comp store sales story going beyond just lapping easy comparisons a year ago. as we start to lap the more positive comps a year ago, i think they've done a lot of things from a merchandising perspective that will propel story to next phase of the turnaround. a lot of that is centered around product content, quality, it's not just about adding back skews and lowering price. i think you got to go a bit further. they figured that out and they're backing it up with strong marketing and they're getting -- i think they're getting traction. >> it is a $76 a share stock right now. do you have a price target on it and how soon? >> we have an $881, 12-month

target. if you look across retail there's a lot of large cap liquid names that are being very richly valued. i think we could start to see some money flowing out of those into walmart which is still actually near its multi-year low pe. >> stacy, let's talk a little bit -- that's walmart on the line there, dan. stacy, let's talk about best buy and this idea that they're now going to price match online competitors, something they hadn't done before. how is this going to help them -- it certainly is going to hurt their margins. >> it is. consumer sentiment was soaring today. why not? we're going to get all sorts of free stuff once again for the holidays. best buy is a good example here. they are talking about matching online pricing. they're talking about if they're out of stock in the stores, that they're going to send it free to you, no shipping charge. but the bottom line is, it hurts the bottom line. we saw the same thing last year.

as products get commoditized and retailers start throwing freebies in, it hurts gross margins. that's the story. >> how can a store call itself best buy if it isn't? >> well, that's a good question. i think they have no choice right now. they're losing share. walmart's getting very aggressive. they said they're ramping up orders in terms of their ipads and tablets so certainly best buy has to do something to get in the game here so they're really saying we're going to give the customer a freebie, match online pricing, we really need that thshare back. >> about 25% of consumers actually say they have used their cell phone to go in and price compare in a store. how big an issue is it, mr. binder, for the best buys and wall marmarts -- i can't imagin people are going into walmart and using their scanners on a

box of detergent, but maybe on electronics. >> well, i think it is a real phenomenon. i think some retailers downplay it a little bit, but quite frankly, if you were doing those price checks at walmart i think you'd find they're pretty competitive with a lot of online retailers. look at soap.com at some point versus the household connection cal pricing at walmart. walmart's cheaper. so i think they're actually in a pretty good position from a price perspective to compete. i think best buy, on the other hand, has not been historically -- they're drawing a line in the sand, trying to protect that market share and as stacy pointed out, it is not -- >> golly, who knew there was a place called soap.com? what do you think of best buy stock? >> we have a hold rating. i think it is going to be a very binary outcome based on what's happening in the stock today. the former chairman, dick schul schultz, is pursuing perhaps a buyout. if that does not happen i think you'll see the stock drift

lower. if it does happen, obviously there will be a premium priced in pretty quickly. >> stacy, do you have an investment position on best buy? >> i'm negative on best buy as well. as dan pointed out, the likelihood of a buyout here always can happen but i think more likelihood is that the company stays public. you see margin keeps declining. you see sales, flat, at best. the stock continues to languish. some new developments on those massive tax breaks given to manhattan's most expensive condo residents. plus, the big business of whiskey. from members-only clubs for collectors to double distilled single malts fetching hundreds of thousand of dollars a bottle. since when did whiskey become the new liquid gold? tyler is going to tell us. answer is right after a quick break.

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says housing has turned a corner. how are things where you live? 5% say they agreed, the boom is back. 48% say things are improving but modestly. 47% say it's still a mess. to street signs at the top of the hour. >> thanks a lot, sue. big banks are doing pretty darn well, right? but is the easy money from the fed only helping the too big to fail crowd? what about the smaller banks? then we'll head to the truck stop with the ceo of pilot flying j. gas prices are soaring but so is nat gas recently. so will companies pass along their higher transport costs to us? we're also going to talk to a secret shopper who hits the malls to find out what's selling. she's got great insight into which retail stocks you might want to look at. lots of things coming up at the top of the hour. back to you on "power lunch." it's your money, your vote. let's check out our cnbc obama

and romney portfolios on the back of yesterday's vp face-off. both indices are down today with the market but the president's portfolio is leading this year, it is up more than 10%. mr. romney's portfolio up about 1%. so what kind of stocks are in those particular portfolios? the president's has autos, health care and housing stocks such as tesla, tenet health care and dr horton. mr. romney has tobacco, coal and oil stocks such as philip morris, halliburton and arch coal. it was a story that our wealth editor robert frank -- we called him swanky franky -- brought to you first a couple of days ago here on "power lunch." millionaires and billionaires, the swanky, getting massive tax breaks for moving into a swanky condo building in new york. we said it would cause outrage, and indeed it has. robert is here with new developments. >> just to continue the rhymes, it's made some people cranky! well, city officials are now taking a closer look at those tax breaks that are given to new

york's tallest and most glamorous condo tower. the tower is called 157 and at least two billionaires have shelled out more than $90 million for penthouses in that building. but along with great views they're also getting sky high tax breaks of up to $200,000 a year, each. it is part of a program designed to encourage low-income housing. now city councilman brad lander told me that the tax breaks are "an outrageous giveaway." he says it is costing the city millions of dollars as a time of austerity and now sources tell me that the city's building department is scrutinizing the application for the program. this city has asked 157 for more information. xtel, the developer, won't tell us what the nature of those questions are. they haven't responded to our calls for comment. it is unclear whether these tax breaks will be accepted or not. now again, xtel didn't immediately return my e-mails and calls. read all about it at this -- this story and more on

indiedwealth@cnbc.com. >> let me ask you a quick question here. these were credits, weren't they, that were being transferred from other buildings but applied to this one? >> correct. they bought a certificate which allowed them to help fund affordable housing in the brooklyn, bronx and our boroughs. in exchange, they got the affordable housing tax breaks in this big tower. the question is did you really get a one-for-one payoff, did it really benefit the city as much as the tax breaks they were receiving. >> and then do these tax breaks actually then go down to the individual buyers of the units? it is the developer who got the tax breaks. right? >> the developer got them but the savings are passed on so in these at least two apartments we looked at they were saving at least $200,000 a year in tax breaks. pretty good chunk of change. >> thank you. if stocks and bonds are not your thing, there is an alternative investment option and it comes in a bottle. i saddled up to the bar with the founder of a new whiskey club in

new york city where members share an appreciation for drink and investors put their money where their mouth is. >> $8,000 for this bottle. >> $8,500. the chap who actual ly that had bought it in 1995 for $250. if you're hanging on to a bottle that other people are drinking, then the price will go up. we've seen some whiskeys gain 400% in value over a period of maybe eight to ten years. >> this would cost how much if i were to buy it at retail? >> this is retailing at $20,000. >> can you lose money investing in whiskey? >> there are whiskeys that have dropped in price. >> why would that be? >> just because of the demand. we've seen some whiskeys go down from the prices that we've seen in 2007, 2008. but it's not a huge thing

because you do lose some money on it, but you can always drink a beautiful bottle of whiskey after. >> could have listened to him all day long, all night. david tells me the number of whiskey collectors is growing, both here in the u.s., as well as in china. his 1494 club has received applications from around the globe. the membership fees -- not cheap. they start at $15,000 a year. >> wow. you get the best assignments. i don't know how you work that out. >> frank's sitting here wondering what went wrong, how he didn't get that assignment. >> i get the next whiskey bottle. >> stick with us. ty, did you get any tastings? >> you know, actually, i did not that day. i had -- i was driving. >> we could have gotten you a car, ty. a car and a driver. i've got to go along with you next time. have you ever taken a page out of feris bueller's book and

played hooky from work? a lot of people have. we'll tell you some of the most outrageous excuses for taking a "mental health day" when we come back. one employee actually said their toe was stuck in a faucet.

welcome back to "power lunch." i'm mary thompson with a market flash. taking a look at shares of liquidity services. this is an auction house basically for surplus and salvage goods, shares down 10%. bank of america cut it to neutral, slashed its price target to $46 from $62. they are concerned about volume or growth in volume for this company. going in to the fiscal year. again, its shares down 10.5%. time for the power rundown with neil weinberg of american banker and bob pisani. gentlemen, welcome. i thought this headline when it first came in to my inbox. i thought somebody was playing a joke on me but they were not. the european union wins the nobel peace prize. not for economics, fortunately, but for promoting peace, democracy and human rights over six decades. but when you first saw the headline it says they won the

nobel peace prize. i was so stunned by it. but you make some very interesting points about why this is a very, very important thing. >> i think that this is the case of sort of visiting a sick relative in the icu. you go there, there's not much you can do but you are a doctor and you offer some sort of hope and support here. let's be serious. there is a chance that europe could certainly slide into chaos. we've seen in previous decades it can get very ugly there, very fast. >> i owls thought it was ironic the guy who invented dynamite, alfred nobel, invented the nobel peace prize. it says clearly give it to those who have done the most work for the fraternity between nations and for holding and promotion of peace congresses.ably they've d work working fraternity between nations. to the debates. the vice presidential ones. vice president biden and

congressman paul ryan literally facing off at last night's debate. look at the expressions. there's the dow jones industrial average which we'll get to in a minute. there is the chuckle. and then of course, there was kind of the look. that was -- we're comparing the two. which one did you think won, in quotes? >> i think biden lost. you got a guy who's across from you. 50 million people are watching. you can be forgiven for a little bit of a smirk. but this toothy grin was a little bit over the top. it's given birth to a new hash tag, it's biden unhinged on twitter. but he will win the dental vote. >> oh, malarkey! i agree, sometimes biden looks and acts like he maybe had a few too many cans of red bull but by and large is he a salty old politician. paul ryan, much younger, much less experienced at this game. i thought he acquitted himself very well. >> i would agree.

on policy issues they both got in good jabs but in terms of smirk versus grim, i go with smirk. >> i'm not worried about the smirk. >> have you ever called in sick for an unusual reason? >> i've got some unusual ones that i found out but apparently a lot of people do call in sick for different reasons. >> a new survey finds 30% of people fake a sick day when they don't feel like coming in to work. often using some very creative excuses. here are a couple of them. i called in sick because my sobriety tool would not allow my car to start. my toe was stuck in a faucet. a bird hit me. >> this is my favorite. >> and my dead grandmother was being exhumed for a police investigation. >> has anybody else had that problem? i've not had that problem. >> but the problem i have is that usually when people want to call in sick they don't even have to give an excuse, they just send an e-mail and say, "i'm sick." i think we should pay people for sick days, if you actually take it, you reduce their salary.

i think that would reduce sickness in this had country. >> calling in well then isn't going to work. >> no, just walk in well. call in sick, costs you money, you won't get sick as much. >> i think that's a very practical suggestion. >> have a great weekend, gentlemen. ty, back to you. >> a major apple shortage. we'll have details on that after the top of the hour on "street signs." meanwhile, more "power lunch" after this short break. mike rowe here at a ford tell me fiona, who's having a big tire event? your ford dealer. who has 11 major brands to choose from? your ford dealer. who's offering a rebate? your ford dealer. who has the low price tire guarantee... affording peace of mind to anyone who might be in the market for a new set of tires? your ford dealer. i'm beginning to sense a pattern. buy four select tires, get a $60 rebate. use the ford service credit credit card, get $60 more. that's up to $120. where did you get that sweater vest? your ford dealer.

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with the industrials down about nine points at 1,317. the s&p 500 at 1,428, down 4.75 points. nasdaq is off 4.75 points as well. down about 6%. it has been an interesting, generally down week as investors lighten up on equities. >> they have. you know, matt's here with us, ty. when i asked you what you were watching, you pointed to the transports really as the only thing that you think is holding up this market. >> yeah. it's funny, i thought transports were going to act well.

couple weeks ago, thought the market would follow. transports have been a leader but the market has done much though, all things considered. with all the negativity and fiscal cliff and earnings out there, really hasn't done a whole lot. though it is down, it is not so bad. if this is the worst it gets -- >> i know you're perennially a bear. i'm going to be the perennial bull which i would argue augers well for the market but you still have these feelings that perhaps there's something out there that might derail this market. the only thing i find that's so concerning, everyone is so negative. that scares me. now i might start to go into your camp. i think the earnings picture, although it is very cloudy right now and no one's going to take a leap of faith on earnings -- yet -- i think there is some chance for the up side. just based on -- >> sue, as i'm recalling, i believe matt used the phrase "sell everything" yesterday. >> yes, he did. >> i believe i remember that, matt. >> you know what? that's a common theme for me. my mom gave me a